Mortgage Brain has reported that the number of ESIS generated through its sourcing systems increased by 3% last week, maintaining their recovery to reach the same levels as those seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The mortgage technology expert revealed that its ESIS volumes now stand at just 0.26% below pre-pandemic levels, with volumes staying within 11% of pre-pandemic levels for seven weeks in a row as the market begins to steady.

Mortgage Brain also revealed that the number of mortgage products on the market fell marginally for the second consecutive week, but added that figures remain on a long-term upward trend. Over last week, product numbers declined by 1.6%, following a 0.9% drop the week before.

As a result, the data showed there are now 9,031 mortgage products available, a level up by 21.6% from Mortgage Brain’s recorded low-point of the COVID-19 crisis in the week ending 12 April, but this remains down by 38.5% on the nine-week average to 16 March.

“That ESIS volumes are stable and now at virtually the same levels seen before COVID-19 is astonishing,” Mortgage Brain CEO, Mark Lofthouse, commented.

“The way that the housing market has bounced back, and maintained that recovery, speaks volumes about the overall strength of demand among borrowers to get on with purchasing their next home and moving up the housing ladder.”

Mortgage Brain also suggested the strength of demand for purchasing new homes was “clear” from the ESIS data, with the volume of residential purchase ESIS higher than pre‒pandemic levels for eight straight weeks since the reopening of the English housing market.
 
For residential purchases, the data indicated that ESIS volumes for cases of 80-85% LTV are around 9% higher than pre-pandemic levels, and now represent almost a quarter (22%) of all ESIS produced.

The mortgage technology expert suggested this trend is similar for the buy-to-let (BTL) market, where the volume of higher LTV ESIS has been greater than pre-pandemic levels for seven straight weeks.

“It’s also notable that we are seeing a significant increase in purchase activity across the board,” Lofthouse continued. “With residential, BTL and second homes all benefiting from the Stamp Duty holiday, there is clearly both residential interest and some investors believe now is the perfect opportunity to increase their portfolios.”

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